The following are a few cases decided by the Supreme Court with which it is important that we should be acquainted owing to the influence which their decision has had upon our history:
1. In 1793 the case of Chisolm vs. Georgia came before this court. Chisolm, a citizen of North Carolina, sued the State of Georgia for a sum of money, and under the second section of Article III of the Constitution, which says that the judicial power of the United States shall extend to disputes between a State and citizens of another State, the court gave judgment in his favor. This decision that a State government could be sued against its will created so much dissatisfaction that the Eleventh Amendment was adopted, which says, "the judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State." The effect of this amendment has been to enable a State to repudiate its just debts.
2. In 1819 was decided the very important case of McCulloch vs. Maryland. The United States had established a national bank, which was objectionable to many of the States. Maryland attempted to destroy the bank by levying a very high tax upon a branch bank within the State. The question as to her right to do this was brought before the Supreme Court. To have allowed Maryland this right would have been to give to a State Government the power to oppose and render useless an institution created by the Federal Government. The court sustained the Federal power, and it was declared unconstitutional for any State to pass laws opposing the operation of any Federal statute.
3. In the case of Dartmouth College vs. New Hampshire was declared the unconstitutionally of a state law which impaired the obligation of contracts.
4. A very important case decided by Chief Justice Taney was that of Dred Scott vs. Sandford in 1857. Dred Scott, a negro slave in Missouri, had been carried into the Territory of Minnesota, where, by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery did not exist. Upon being carried back into Missouri by his master, Scott claimed his freedom upon the ground that he had been voluntarily carried into a Territory where slavery was not allowed. The Supreme Court in its decision declared that Congress had never had the power to pass any law which would forbid slave-owners settling in Territories and still retaining control of their slaves. The whole country was at this time in great excitement in regard to the question whether or not, in the organization of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska into States, slavery should be prohibited, and this decision, whereby the Missouri Compromise Act was practically annulled, and which pointed directly forward to an establishment of slavery in the new Territories, raised public excitement to a fever heat. It was in this decision that the statement was made that at the time of the formation of the Constitution the general opinion had been that the colored man had no rights which the white man was bound to respect. As a direct result of this case a more determined stand was taken at the North against slavery; the Anti-Slavery Republican party was strengthened, and their candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln, elected in 1861, and the catastrophe of civil war precipitated.
5. The Legal-Tender decisions, given in several cases soon after the civil war, are important. During the progress of the war the Government, in order to raise funds to meet its extraordinary expenses, had been forced to issue slips of paper which represented no deposits of coin in the Treasury, but only promises to pay certain sums by the Government. These were declared legal tender, that is, made by law as good as gold and silver, and the people were forced to receive them in payment of debts and for commodities. It was questioned whether the Government had by the Constitution power to do this. The legal-tender decisions declared that it had. Judicial System and Jurisdiction of the United States Courts.
#District Courts.#—The United States is divided into judicial districts. Many single States form a judicial district, while others are divided into two and others into three districts. The number of districts has varied. At present there are about sixty. To each of these districts is given a court and a district judge. These form the lowest grade of Federal courts.
#Circuit Courts.#—These judicial districts are grouped into nine circuits. For example, the Fourth circuit includes the districts of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. For each circuit is appointed one circuit judge. One of the justices of the Supreme Court is also allotted to each of the circuits, who, after the expiration of the Supreme Court term, visits his circuit, and tries the more important cases which may arise in that circuit. The Circuit Court may be held by the circuit judge, the Supreme Court justice, or the district judge of that district in which the court is sitting, or by any two of them, or all of them, sitting together. The Circuit Courts form the next series of the Federal courts higher than the District Courts.
#Jurisdiction.#—The relation between the Supreme, Circuit and District courts is easy to explain. Their jurisdiction is upon federal questions; that is, over those cases mentioned in the Constitution over which judicial power has been granted to the United States, viz., questions arising under the Constitution, federal laws, or treaties, between citizens of different States, between citizens and foreigners, between States themselves, etc., and all crimes punishable under the United States laws.
The Circuit Court is higher than the District Court, and to it cases involving $500 and over may be appealed from the District courts. The Supreme Court is the court of last resort, and to it all appeals from the Circuit Courts come, with the limitation that $5,000 be involved. The cases decided by the Supreme Court are then of two classes: (1) those over which it has original jurisdiction, (see Constitution); i.e., those cases which originate or begin in that court; and (2) those cases over which it has appellate jurisdiction, i.e., those cases which come thither by appeal from the lower Circuit Courts, and which form the larger part of its work, and also by appeal from the highest State courts in cases involving certain Federal questions. The District of Columbia being directly governed by the United States, its courts are Federal courts, and hence, cases may be appealed from such courts to the Supreme Court; likewise for the same reason appeals may be had to the Supreme Court from the territorial courts.